£95 to ship a jacket?!

[asiamiles]

I was interested in making an offer for this jacket but I wanted to take into account the shipping cost first so I asked the seller for an approx quote and was told about £95! I know International shipping from the UK isn't cheap, but this seems a bit excessive!

Despite the impression given, this jacket was not made by Lewis Leathers. I recall when I first saw one, writing to Lewis and asking them about it, assuming it to be one of their collaborations. I was told they had nothing to do with it, and it was a bit of a sore point with them. While the leather tag isn't exactly the same it's close enough to be misleading - I'm sure most people will believe this is an actual Lewis Leathers jacket - but perhaps enough removed to avoid copyright infringement? Or maybe it was produced before the new Lewis had got all the paperwork sorted out and the name and logo was then in the public domain?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... TQ:GB:1123

 

[havocpaul]

This is the second one of these in recent weeks on eBay and I must say I was under the impression it was one of their collaborations, after all, Paul Smith is a respected tailor/designer with associations in Britain and Japan (a recent BBC series on tailors did a special on him during a 'tour' he did of Japan). So from what Lewis have told you it is all a bit 'naughty'...what we in the music biz call a bootleg! The label is so close it would probably break copyright laws. Thanks for pointing this out, my search for a nice used Lewis continues.....oh and the postage costs he's quoted are excessive too.

 

[John Lever]

Why not get the weight of the jacket from the seller, then use the Royal Mail cost calculator to work out the real postage cost ?
If it weighs 6 pounds or 2.75 kg. from the UK to Japan the cost is about £78 for International data post and £69 for Global Priority.
Insurance might be extra.

 

[asiamiles]

This is the second one of these in recent weeks on eBay and I must say I was under the impression it was one of their collaborations, after all, Paul Smith is a respected tailor/designer with associations in Britain and Japan (a recent BBC series on tailors did a special on him during a 'tour' he did of Japan). So from what Lewis have told you it is all a bit 'naughty'...what we in the music biz call a bootleg! The label is so close it would probably break copyright laws. Thanks for pointing this out, my search for a nice used Lewis continues.....oh and the postage costs he's quoted are excessive too.

Can you recall how much the other one sold for?

While it does seem a bit "naughty", as you say, the seller claims this jacket is some 9 years old*, which probably predates the reactivated Lewis Leathers. So it was possibly simply a case of Paul Smith "having a bit of fun" with a classic British design, which is one of the PS trademarks.

*On the other hand, I think these were produced just 3 or 4 years ago.

 

[asiamiles]

Why not get the weight of the jacket from the seller, then use the Royal Mail cost calculator to work out the real postage cost ?
If it weighs 6 pounds or 2.75 kg. from the UK to Japan the cost is about £78 for International data post and £69 for Global Priority.
Insurance might be extra.

Thanks for those, John. Blimey have the prices gone up even more? They seem totally out of step with what you may pay for a similar service from Asia or America, Canada being perhaps the one exception.

I would have guessed the jacket to weigh around 2kg, and it seems the seller is using some kind of courier service - I guess a seller can choose whatever method he so wishes - so while it seems outrageously expensive, I guess it might not be that far wide of the mark. But however you look at it, it adds a huge chunk on top of the item price.

 

[John Lever]

There may be cheaper/slower options.

 

[Peter Graham]

Bloody hell, postage has gone through the roof ! I think it was early last year that I posted a B-6 complete with shearling flight pants to Japan and if I remember correctly the postage was about £55 to £60 and that was priority. Miles, I guess it depends on how much you want the jacket, but for me the quoted postage would just not be worth it.

 

[asiamiles]

There may be cheaper/slower options.

The seller told me the jacket weighed 2.5 kg but the size of the box actually determined the cost and that they could only use trackable, insured shipping because they were selling it for someone else. I ended up offering £100 less than the BIN to compensate but the seller came back with a counter offer of £245! :lol:

 

[havocpaul]

You're stuffed if the package weighs over 2kg which is max for Royal Mail..then you're stuck with the likes of Parcel Force who rip everyone off especially if insurance is taken. Postage prices have shot up but stealthily which means many buyers from overseas think we Brits are ripping them off.
The other Paul Smith jacket went for over £350 if I recall, it was a smaller size and had slight damage to the lining.

 

[joeson]

This is the second one of these in recent weeks on eBay and I must say I was under the impression it was one of their collaborations, after all, Paul Smith is a respected tailor/designer with associations in Britain and Japan (a recent BBC series on tailors did a special on him during a 'tour' he did of Japan). So from what Lewis have told you it is all a bit 'naughty'...what we in the music biz call a bootleg! The label is so close it would probably break copyright laws. Thanks for pointing this out, my search for a nice used Lewis continues.....oh and the postage costs he's quoted are excessive too.

Can you recall how much the other one sold for?

While it does seem a bit "naughty", as you say, the seller claims this jacket is some 9 years old*, which probably predates the reactivated Lewis Leathers. So it was possibly simply a case of Paul Smith "having a bit of fun" with a classic British design, which is one of the PS trademarks.

*On the other hand, I think these were produced just 3 or 4 years ago.

Lewis leathers have never been out of business,they have simply changed hands numerous times.There was definitely a copyright issue with this jacket,not sure if it was ever resolved.

 

[asiamiles]

Awoke this morning to find 2 messages, one from the seller stating
"I have been weighing the wrong jacket.
What an idiot...I can send this jacket inc shipping for £295.00,"
and another from eBay stating someone else (with 0 f/b) has bought the jacket with BIN.

 

[Peter Graham]

What rotten luck. Sorry to hear that.

 

[asiamiles]

What rotten luck. Sorry to hear that.

Cheers, Peter. I wonder if the seller really had been weighing the wrong jacket or if it was his way of saying that he had gotten word from the owner that it was okay to send the jacket by a cheaper method after all? Then mister zero feedback (who knows, he may have learned of the auction from this thread!) appeared.

 

[asiamiles]

Maybe I'll go for this instead, also by Paul Smith...Peter, I take it you don't have the same ill feeling towards PS as towards RL?